The General Rapporteur of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) on the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people Robert Biedron has urged the Lithuanian Parliament to reject a change in the law which could impose administrative fines on those demonstrating publicly in support of LGBT rights, describing the proposed
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Today, the European Parliament adopted two new laws at first reading to reform data protection in the European Union. Until now, the EU regulated data protection via a 1995 directive, ill fitted for the modern omnipresence of personal data. The European Commission proposed a new EU framework in the form of two legal texts: a directive
The draft amendment to the Code of Administrative Violations, proposed by MP P. Gražulis, seeks to introduce administrative liability for any public defiance of the constitutionally established family values. According to this amendment, actions considered as defying traditional family values will result in administrative fine ranging from 1000 to 6000 LTL (300-1800 EUR). The draft
Chair of the Lithuanian Parliament Loreta Graužinienė and Prime Minister Algirdas Butkevičius presented the tasks for the spring session of the Parliament on Monday, March 10th. Four homophobic bills and amendments to the existing laws are scheduled for the session. At the spring session the parliamentarians will consider the amendment to the Code of Administrative
Despite the international pressure and concern, tomorrow (13 March) Lithuanian Parliament will vote on the draft amendment to the Code of Administrative Violations No. XIP-4490(3) which seeks to introduce administrative liability for any public defiance of the constitutionally established family values. According to the proposal, such actions as carrying out public speeches, demonstrating goods, posters,
Six teachers from the Orestad gymnasium (Denmark) were visiting the LGBT center in Vilnius on March 6th. The aim of their visit was to find out how widespread is homophobia in Lithuania and what is the scope of homophobic tendencies in everyday life. During the meeting LGL staff members have presented the situation of LGBT
On February 22-26 LGL members met five other organizations participating in the QuPiD project. The meeting under the topic “LGBT*Q – together, side by side or against?” took place in Warsaw, Poland. QuPiD, Queer Paths into Diversity is an international project aiming at the cooperation of organizations fighting the discrimination based on sexual orientation and
The Lithuanian Parliament is currently deliberating the “Law on the protection of a life in a pre-natal phase” and accompanying legislative projects, otherwise known as the “abortion ban bill”. The Committee on Health Affairs has already approved the bill and those who initiated the law expect it will be passed by the Parliament in spring.
On February 28th Robert Biedroń participated in a press conference at the Lithuanian parliament. R. Biedroń is the general rapporteur on the rights of LGBT people of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE). “European Council is seeing discrimination of LGBT persons in Lithuania” Read more
On the 20th of February the first National Equality and Diversity Awards 2013 took place at the State Small Theatre of Vilnius. Viktoras Diawara, a member of the band SKAMP, which was awarded for the openness to the multiculturality, stated: “We are living in a democratic state, where freedom of speech is sometimes misused… I
On February 28th Robert Biedroń participated in a press conference at the Lithuanian parliament. R. Biedroń is the general rapporteur on the rights of LGBT people of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE). He is a member of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe and its Committee on Equality and
Today the European Parliament voted its annual report on fundamental rights in the European Union. The report includes an extensive overview of the situation for LGBT people, and recommendations to reach European equality standards laid down in the Charter of Fundamental Rights. Among other recommendations, MEPs ask that Member States guarantee thefreedom of movement of same-sex couples, their